Alumni Relations

Graduation

Tornado warnings, oppressive heat, no power—graduation day. I had finished school at the end of first semester but continued to live in my off campus house. J.F.K. was dead, I had a dead-end job and unfortunately, an appointment to take a behind the wheel driving test later in the day in Arden Hills. Walking from Vernon Street over toppled trees, past the fine arts building construction project, I felt disconnected from what I was about to experience. For three and a half years my focus had been toward the campus, then for a few short months I had turned my back to it and worked in downtown Minneapolis. Being back on campus made me feel like an interloper. The sweet innocence of college life was already apparent, but life is always moving forward, and I felt no backward tug.